*happy new year my loves!!! Its 1 am here in brazil so, new year chapter!! That 2019 bring you happiness and joy! Thank you for reading 7 seas ❤❤❤ much love ❤❤❤ *
It was 9 pm when Carol took her shower. She set down, feeling the hot water run down her back until merging with the water on the dark floor of the bathroom. She rested her head back, on the wall. She looked at those little marks on her waist, close to her groin area, the lines of an ex cutter and after remembering it all, she closed her legs, fast, hugging them while letting her hair fall on her face, covering it.
Carol felt the urge to cry, she was still very embarrassed about going through all of that stuff, of her coping mechanism to keep alive was hurting herself. The last time she had done self harm was 3 years before that day and that feeling of not being worthy was lingering on, holding onto her guilty heart. Without much warning, the tears started to merge with the water, making her heart beat faster and her breathing more intense. She closed her eyes, trying to make those thought fade away, but it wasn't working. She made no noise, hoping Ben wouldn't hear her.
She heard a knock on the door and that made her come back to reality.
"Carol, are you okay?" it was Ben's voice, muffled by the sound of the water.
"Everything's okay Ben!" She said louder than the usual, so he could hear her.
"Okay then! I'm waiting for you downstairs" he replied and then left.
Carol finished her bath and put a beautiful white very loose dress with a big cleavage. She put a very simple make up, some eyeliner and mascara to make her eyes pop and her lashes seem bigger, some blush to bring her face to life, concealer to hide the black circles and the puffy eyes and to wrap it up, a nude lipstick.
She was quite shy and insecure about her looks, but that never stopped her from wearing what she wanted.
She put white heels on, although been afraid she might fall down the stairs, but went with it anyway. She put her phone and her wallet on a small white purse and went downstairs, holding in the handrail while walking slowly step by step, looking at her feet. When she finally felt secure about walking on those heels, she looked straight and her eyes met instantly with Ben's. He had the cutest, silliest smile on his face. He was wearing a also loose white unbuttoned (all to the middle) blouse and black pants.
What Carol was soon to know, was that he was breath taken by how beautiful she looked and couldn't stop thinking how lucky he was.
Carol gave him a big smile, reaching out to him with her hand, that he gently pulled, bringing her to a soft kiss. They forgot about everything else, the entire world, all the pain she was in, when their lips touched. Carol wrapped her arms softly around his neck, pulling himm closer, deepening the kiss, as he held her waist with both hands.As the kiss was getting more intense and Ben's hands dropping to her butt, Carol smiled, giggling softly, feeling a smile form on Ben's mouth too.
"Let's go before you make me wanna go back to the bedroom" she said, stepping away from his chest, holding his hand and pulling him to come with her.
"I've been waiting for that since we first met" he joked, but also, telling the truth.
"Let's go you dirty boy!" she laughed, reaching for the door.
"Carol wait, there's something i need to tell you" he said, pullingher hand so she would get closer to him, Carol looked worried for a bit, concerned about what he might say "You look beautiful".
Carol sighed, smiling even more.
"Well you don't look bad at all" she kissed him once again "now let's go".
***
"Look who finally arrived!" Joe said, giving Carol such a big hug that lifted her off the ground "you look gorgeous, Carol!" she gave him a kiss on the cheek, laughing at his contagious enthusiasm.
"Thank you! Also, thank you for inviting me!" she gave him a bag "this is for you".
"OH GUESS WHO JUST GOT A PRESENT YALL" Joe yelled, showing everyone else the bag "oh this is so exciting"
"Are you already drunk Joe?" Ben said, laughing at his friend's red cheeks.
"Definitely" he said "Carol what is this".
"This is a small pot with brigadeiro, my favorite brazilian candy and also Guarana, a type of soda, also brazilian, I hope you can get some BRAZILIAN culture now and not think I speak spanish" she laughed, watching Joe as he was already opening the guarana bottle "although i do speak spanish, its just not my native language".
"You remembered about my dumb and uncultured ass back from the pizza date" he laughed "FUCK THIS IS GOOD, I LIKE BRAZIL"
"Oh I wanna try that" Gwil said, walking closer, holding Josie by the waist.
Carol felt her entire body freeze when she saw Josie. She spent days without answering her or any of the other girls.
"I'm...I" Carol started to say, but was stopped by Josie holding her as tight as her tiny arms could hug. She hugged her friend back without thinking twice, feeling all the tender and worry that this hug was passing.
"You almost drove me crazy" she whispered to her ear "but I'm glad you are okay".
Carol almost cried with all that love. She forgot how supportive her friends were.
"SO YOU DIRTY WHORE WERE AT BEN'S ALL THIS TIME?" Maé got up, almost falling, already as drunk as she could be "I KNEW YOU WERE OKAY, BUT JOSE AND JOSIE WERE ALMOST CALLING THE POLICE" Maé ran and hugged her, trying to lift Carol off the floor, which made her almost fall.
"I'm happy to see you too, Maé" she laughed, helping her friend stand straight.
"YOU LATINA BITCH" This time was Jose, running towards Carol, giving her a big kiss on the cheek "COMO ESTAS CHICA".
"BIEN" Carol replied, also yelling.
"NOW THAT'S SPANISH" Joe said, making everyone laugh.
***
Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. Rami was so drunk that he told Carol at least 5 times how stunning she looked, making her and Ben laugh after the third time. They were all dancing and singing songs, getting more and more shit faced. Carol was happy that her friends were there and she could get updated on some things, like Josie and Gwil were actually girlfriend and boyfriend and that Jose would make out with both Rami and Lucy sometimes. But with all that, all Carol wanted was to be close to Ben and well, she was.
They set on the sand, watching as the waves got closer and closer, reaching the tip of their toes. Ben hugged her, trying to get her warmer, since the breeze from the sea was getting colder and with that, she rested her head on his shoulder.
"I'm so glad you are here" he said, looking at the waves crashing "I never thought I'd be so happy with someone, I've never felt like this".
"Why do you always say the things that I wanna hear?" Carol gave a small smile, looking at him and right after that, he looked at her.
"It's the things you deserve to hear" he replied, so sincere, she never thought she was worthy of hearing it.
"Everything happened so fast, I wasn't expecting to fall in love, neither to get this close to someone is such a small period of time" Carol stroked Ben's cheek with all the tenderness in her heart "I love you so much I can't bare to think of living a life without you by my side".
"You will never have to think about that, I will always be by your side, always" their talk was interrupted by screams of 'happy new year' coming out of Rami's mouth, as Joe trying to lit up some fireworks, and then BOOM, the sky was covered by different colors exploding with the stars, red, yellow, pink, blue, like some big painting of joy "Happy New Year, my love, I promise you this will be a better one".
"Happy New Year, babe".
And they kissed, under the beautiful firework sky just above them, in love, feeling their own fireworks exploding inside of their hearts.